


Blazing Daddy

by Hajinnie



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Closeted Character, Crack Treated Seriously, Daddy Issues, Dark Comedy, Hero Complex, M/M, Mystery, Social Commentary, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-24 01:38:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hajinnie/pseuds/Hajinnie
Summary: Chanyeol is gifted with some abilities, sure, but he likes to believe he is a needed superhero. Meanwhile, Kyungsoo had some unresolved daddy issues and they are neighbors.Chanyeol thinks he needs to be Kyungsoo's hero, except that Kyungsoo doesn't need one.





	1. Dumpster Fire

**Author's Note:**

> The idea of "hero complex Chanyeol and daddy issue Kyungsoo" belongs to [@wuvshawt](https://twitter.com/wuvshawt)  
> .I am merely taking a spin on this idea of theirs. 
> 
> This fic will be short as a small piece with 2-3 chapters at most.

 

In a corrupt and capitalist world where acts of vigilantism and villainry are the norm, Chanyeol isn’t very different, although he likes to think he is a hero of some sorts.

At the age of nine or so, Chanyeol was involved in an accident where he was cycling down a hill and ended up smashing his head into a boulder despite his mother’s constant advice to wear a helmet while cycling.

Chanyeol suffered a certain degree of brain damage from the accident and had somehow developed what he would like to call “superpowers”, which was the ability to somewhat manipulate fire and generate small amounts of it from his palms or his head.

 

It wasn’t anything much to talk about though when all he could do was basically light someone’s cigarette or help start a small flame for a campfire. Anyone with a lighter could certainly do better than Chanyeol, to be honest.

However, if a large source of fire was available, he would able to manipulate that to his own will. Being fireproof and literally unable to be set on fire was convenient too though.

Hence, Chanyeol began his arguably “heroic” acts as the ‘Blazing Inferno’; a not-so-much of a superhero who always seemed to be around when a building was on fire to save people and put out the fire, despite the local fire department constantly begging him not to do so because they were actually equipped and better trained for the job.

 

 

 

Chanyeol’s acts of heroism as the Blazing Inferno didn’t actually pay at all when compared to if he had trained to be an actual firefighter, which was an actual proper job. Furthermore, it wasn’t everyday that houses or schools were burning down with people helplessly trapped inside.

Therefore, Chanyeol is now pushing twenty-seven years old and living in a cheap studio apartment in a bad part of town, where his mother still helps pay the rent and utilities for him every month.

Every other week, Chanyeol’s mother would also come by to send him groceries and clean up the apartment for him.

 

Chanyeol dropped out of college several years ago and when he isn’t out there playing the role of Blazing Inferno with his flashy orange-yellow fireman-like suit, his dyed red hair and his neon orange wrestling mask to obscure his identity; he is at home in his crappy apartment on his computer while he completes surveys and watches ads for some money.

Most of the fires occurring on a daily basis were mostly someone burning trash on their lawn or some kid trying to set fire to a stack of papers for fun. Therefore, there weren’t really many opportunities for Chanyeol to go out there and try to be a hero, although he was arguably causing more grievances especially for the fire department and the firefighters.

 

 

 

It was currently almost two in the morning on a Monday night. Any person with a normal day job would be asleep at these hours but not Chanyeol, of course. He lacked a proper job or even a proper mindset of himself, to begin with.

As usual, Chanyeol was on his computer with several tabs open for him to watch funny prank videos, complete online surveys for money, listening to music and also read articles about the news and happenings in Seoul city where he lived in.

 

 

It was the middle of summer and Chanyeol was sort of hoping someone camping out there in the dry forests would accidentally leave their campfire running too long and cause a wildfire. So, he could swoop in and save the day, supposedly.

For the past six years since he dropped out of college and had tried being Blazing Inferno as a fulltime occupation, Chanyeol was fighting hard for his alter ego to be accepted by the public and the state as a legitimate “superhero”.

Chanyeol had even drafted a “memorandum”, which was an over ten thousand words essay directed to the mayor of Seoul. In which, Chanyeol in repetitive and flowery sentences, stated why Blazing Inferno should be the city’s official superhero and receive a monthly stipend allowance amounting to over 9,000,000 won on top of privileges such as free parking, a car, an apartment and all his expenses paid for by the city council.

Because apparently, that was what he deserved as Seoul’s “Official Superhero”.

 

 

 

Chanyeol had yet to even mail that memorandum to the mayor of Seoul though. He was just actually about to do so a year or two ago when another “superhero” emerged in Seoul. This other superhero was known as “Black trench coat guy” or BTC guy for short.

Unlike Blazing Inferno, BTC guy dressed in all black and was obviously trying to be as discreet as possible, unlike the flashy Blazing Inferno.

 

Chanyeol didn’t really mind having another superhero in the city because he had imagined some sort of superhero league association which he fantasized being the leader of. Although, the city council consistently insisted that stuff like “superhero” didn’t actually exist and was just some glamorized and fancy term the media came up with for people with weird abilities.

However, BTC guy became a threat and a competitor to Chanyeol when he found out how the public actually favored him over Blazing Inferno.

 

 

BTC guy supposedly had the power to control matter in any person or any object. He could make things fly, he could make things appear and disappear, he could make things grow larger or small and he was said to even be able to create tears in the fabric of time and reality to transport himself, things and people to other dimensions.

 

Now, Chanyeol thought that was a whole load of bullcrap because he didn’t believe that someone like BTC guy who could supposedly travel to different universes would even choose to stay in a city like this in what was probably the worst and shittiest timeline. In fact, Chanyeol thought that if BTC guy really had the powers they were claimed to have, then they wouldn't have settled on such a lame superhero name that reminded Chanyeol of a frozen food store. 

 

Chanyeol despised BTC guy the most, despite never having met them, because of how people on online communities mentioned and praised BTC guy more than they ever praised Blazing Inferno.

There were also times where BTC guy had supposedly made a raging fire just disappear into thin air before Chanyeol could get there, which essentially put Chanyeol out of something to do and lose his opportunity to appear “heroic”.

 

 

Chanyeol was that type to make several accounts on public forums and social media just so he could vote for himself on “BTC guy vs. Blazing Inferno” polls, so he could start obvious circlejerk threads to praise himself and jump to take part on any other threads with the slightest bit of disapproval for BTC guy.

Chanyeol didn’t understand all the fuss for BTC guy because in his eyes, Blazing Inferno, would always the best. To him, BTC guy was just a poser and a scam.

 

 

 

While Chanyeol was spamming his alternate twitter account with #BlazingInferno hashtags so his superhero alter ego would come up with more searches than #BTCguy, Chanyeol could hear the front door opening and slamming shut in the apartment to his left.

Chanyeol lived in a shitty and cheap apartment so the walls were thin and since he was always awake at these ungodly hours, he knew it was when his neighbor Kyungsoo came back from work.

 

Kyungsoo always came home at odd hours wearing hospital scrubs and although Chanyeol never asked, not since Kyungsoo moved in there less than two years ago, he assumed that Kyungsoo was probably a nurse or something at a hospital somewhere.

Chanyeol occasionally talked to Kyungsoo and thought that he was a rather nice and polite person to be friends with, although Kyungsoo seemed a bit reserved and closed off compared to how extroverted Chanyeol believed himself to be.

 

 

 

Because it was warm that night in the summer and due to the lack of air-conditioning in his apartment, Chanyeol had opened the doors to his balcony with a street view to let some air in since it was getting rather hot and stuffy inside.

And because of that, Chanyeol was also able to hear Kyungsoo coming out onto his own apartment balcony, just right beside Chanyeol’s own, not long after Kyungsoo had got home.

 

 

Chanyeol was just about to carry on, as usual, wasting time away on his computer before he would get tired and only ready to sleep around five or so in the morning.

However, he heard something else that night which caught his interests and that was the sound of Kyungsoo wailing and sobbing on the balcony next to him in the middle of the night.

 

There was currently nothing on fire or any signs of anything burning from the online police and fire station scanner he was always keeping a track of. But as a superhero, Chanyeol saw it fit that he should be helping anyone in any way he can and that person happened to be Kyungsoo tonight.

Obviously, Kyungsoo was distressed and upset about something if he was crying that hard alone on his balcony in the middle of the night.

 

 

 

Chanyeol got up from his computer, put on a shirt he found in a pile near his bed and walked out to the balcony with old wrought iron bars and floors that could use a good power washing yesterday. Their balconies were just separated from each other by less than a meter or so.

There Kyungsoo was, under the illumination of the half moon in the sky and the lights seeping from the windows of their other neighbors and from the apartment block opposite from them across the road.

 

Chanyeol arrived on the balcony to find Kyungsoo wiping the tears on his face with the back of his hands, which were wrapped in bandages and very visible even under the poor lighting. Kyungsoo was still wearing his dark green hospital scrubs, haven’t even being changed out of the garments.

“Chanyeol?” Kyungsoo sniffled, trying to hold back his tears and uncontrollable sobbing when he saw Chanyeol come out onto the balcony.

“Hey,” Chanyeol greeted with a big smile, trying to act it off as cool as possible.

“You’re not asleep yet?” Kyungsoo asked, wiping his chin with his bandaged hand as he stood at the balcony railings to come closer to Chanyeol.

“No, not yet. I always sleep late actually which is why I know you come home around these times,” Chanyeol answered.

“Oh, right,” Kyungsoo nodded, understanding.

“So umm…what’s up? Why are you crying? Had a tough day at work, eh?” Chanyeol questioned, leaning an arm on the railings and slightly bending forward.

“Oh, no. Work is fine and as usual,” Kyungsoo denied, wiping his nose with a finger.

“Then, what’s up with that?” Chanyeol pointed to Kyungsoo’s bandaged hands, “I didn’t see you with those bandages on your hands when I saw you in the lobby a few days ago. Did you get hurt at work?”

“This is normal,” Kyungsoo assured, putting his hands down to his sides, “I work with a lot of people on a daily basis and not everyone I meet is cooperative. Sometimes, they break stuff and throw things at me but if I don’t do the job, no one else will. I work with people who need help, Chanyeol, and not all of them are actually healthy enough to be responsible for their actions so I can’t blame them for this either.”

“Do you even get paid well for that?” Chanyeol scrunched his nose, a bit perplexed.

“Is anyone even ever paid well these days?” Kyungsoo snickered, “We all work hard for a meager wage so we don’t starve and have to live on the streets, just to make a few people at the top even richer.”

“Exactly!” Chanyeol exclaimed, slamming his fist down on the railing, “Finally, someone who actually agrees with me. This is why we need superheroes in this city to save people from all the unjust and corruption going on.”

“Superheroes?” Kyungsoo uttered.

“Yes!” Chanyeol affirmed, “Superheroes like the Blazing Inferno of course. Can you imagine how society would be like if individuals like the Blazing Inferno was recognized as public and official saviors? Obviously, you wouldn’t have to be dealing with stuff you are subjected to at work. You wouldn’t be injured and certainly don’t have to be crying on your balcony at two in the morning,” Chanyeol pointed towards Kyungsoo’s bandaged hands.

Kyungsoo lifted his hands to his face to look at the wrapping of bandages and then back at Chanyeol, “I’m not crying because I got hurt at work though and besides, isn’t the Blazing Inferno supposed to help people from fires? I’m pretty sure fire isn’t the reason I got injured either.”

 

Chanyeol scoffed, quickly saying anything that came to mind to further affirm his alter ego in front of Kyungsoo even if it wasn’t making any sense, “The Blazing Inferno can fix anything even if it’s not related to fires. Trust me on that. I know the guy…sort of.”

Kyungsoo chuckled a little, honestly amused a bit at Chanyeol before he began tearing up again and apologizing as he wiped his tears away with his bandaged hands, “I’m sorry, I’m just so sad right now. I’m not sure if I'm in the right mind to talk.”

“What’s wrong, really? You can tell me. Who knows, Blazing Inferno might even rush here to save you and fix your problems,” Chanyeol tried to suggest, leaning over the balcony railings.

“It’s fine,” Kyungsoo spoke between sobs, turning his face away from Chanyeol, “My problems are my own responsibility to fix and I don’t think Blazing Inferno or whatever superhero is out there can fix it. I appreciate it Chanyeol but I’m fine.”

“Come on, Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol tried to persuade, “You’re out here crying at two in the morning obviously because you have a problem which you are having a hard time with.” Chanyeol pretended to clear his throat and had a smug look on his face, “I mean I’m no superhero but as someone who has more experience in this life thing, why don’t you tell me what your problem is and maybe I can fix it?”

“Aren’t we like the same age though?” Kyungsoo was baffled.

“I’m still older by a few months if I’m not mistaken,” Chanyeol recalled, “So anyway, just let me know. If it’s a secret I won’t tell anyone, I promise. Let me fix your problems, Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo sighed, resting an elbow on the railings, “Tonight is the 1st anniversary of my father’s death. He died a year ago today from a heart attack. He lives with my step-mother in another city and I wasn’t able to see him before he died because I was busy working here in Seoul. I am the only child so we were very close and I was planning on going home that weekend to tell him something important but instead, I had to go home and arrange his funeral instead.”

“Oh,” Chanyeol muttered, not quite expecting this kind of answer, “Uh…I’m sorry to hear that. I know I said I could fix your problems but I don’t think even Blazing Inferno can bring people back from the dead.”

“I know that,” Kyungsoo spoke lowly, “I don’t even think BTC guy can do that so I’m not really expecting anyone to resurrect my father from the dead. I guess I was just mostly sad because I wasn’t able to tell him what I wanted before he passed.”

“-and what is that?” Chanyeol leaned in closer, curious.

“I was about to come out to him as…gay,” Kyungsoo revealed after a slight pause, “I like men, Chanyeol and for so long I’ve been confused about my sexuality. When I finally had it figured out, I wanted to tell him first because he’s the most important person in my life but that isn’t possible now too.”

“I see,” Chanyeol nodded, “I mean I guess I could understand you on that part because I’m actually gay too. But both my parents are still alive so I don’t really know how it’s like to lose one.”

“I didn’t know you were gay but I suppose I do now,” Kyungsoo pondered.

“Well, have you told anyone else about this?” Chanyeol asked.

“No, not yet,” Kyungsoo shook his head, “I don’t have friends and I don’t really talk to people at work about personal stuff so you’re the only one who knows now.”

“Wow, I am honored,” Chanyeol expressed, subtly puffing his chest out as his ego was getting a stroke. 

Kyungsoo added, “I did plan on telling my stepmom about it though since we’re quite close too. But I’m not sure how she’ll take it though since she’s quite religious and traditional compared to my father. I’m afraid I’d ruin my relationship with her and I don’t want that since she’s basically my last parent left alive.”

“That does make things a little bit hard,” Chanyeol was of the opinion.

“Indeed,” Kyungsoo sighed again, tearing up, “I really miss my dad.”

“I do know something that can fix your problems for now at least,” Chanyeol brought up.

“What is it?’ Kyungsoo asked, looking up towards Chanyeol.

“I have some bottled soju in my fridge. Do you want to come over and have a drink? I mean it’s not like you have to sleep and get up early since you work nights so you should be able to spend some time,” Chanyeol stated.

“I don’t really have a reason to say no either,” Kyungsoo mentioned, shrugging.

“Cool. Then come over so we can have a drink or two. I’ll listen to anything you want to say,” Chanyeol offered with a big fat smile on his face.

 

 

 

In the eight minutes it took for Kyungsoo to agree and change out of his scrubs before coming over to Chanyeol’s apartment, Chanyeol scurried around his apartment to hide his unfolded clothes under the bed, exit out of all the active tabs on his computer and make sure his Blazing Inferno suit was properly hidden at the furthest end of his closet.

While Chanyeol had sometimes fantasized about telling some people his secret identity as Blazing Inferno, imagining them to fall heads over heels and be awe-stricken at him once they learned that; Chanyeol had decided that it wasn’t actually a good idea to do so yet.

 

 

After the eight minutes were up, Kyungsoo came knocking on Chanyeol’s door, now dressed in a simple shirt and trousers and also wearing his glasses now.

 

“Come in,” Chanyeol excitedly welcomed Kyungsoo, showing Kyungsoo into his apartment.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Kyungsoo smiled as he lowered his head politely and made his way into Chanyeol’s apartment, “Oh wow, I just realized I’ve never been in here since I moved in more than a year ago.”

“It should look like yours too,” Chanyeol mentioned, closing the door behind Kyungsoo and then headed to the fridge to get the bottles of soju out.

“Yeah, the layout and everything is the same,” Kyungsoo relayed, clutching his bandaged hands with each other as he noticed all the posters and printed articles hanging on the wall above Chanyeol’s computer desk, “You seem like a big fan of Blazing Inferno, aren’t you?”

“Yup, I am and proud to be one,” Chanyeol proudly declared, coming back from the fridge with two bottles of soju and a bottle cap opener.

“I see,” Kyungsoo responded, sitting down on a loveseat which was one of the few pieces of furniture Chanyeol owned.

“What do you think about him; Blazing Inferno?” Chanyeol questioned, opening a bottle of soju before passing it over to Kyungsoo.

“I don’t know much about him to be honest but I do know he can control fire and stuff like that,” Kyungsoo admitted, “I did read some articles on the internet but that’s it. I’ve never seen them in person either.”

“Oh, then what about BTC guy then?” Chanyeol suggested, sitting down on the loveseat beside Kyungsoo once he had opened his bottle too, just inches separating between the both of them, “-do you think he’s better than Blazing Inferno?”

“I don’t think anyone is better than the other,” Kyungsoo conveyed, “The government doesn’t even recognize these people as heroes or the likes. I’ve heard the mayor calling them ‘problematic vigilantes’ and telling them to cease their activities to let the authorities do their job because they do cause some unnecessary damage and trouble. To be fair, I think the mayor has a point but then again the authorities aren’t all omniscient and some people end up in situations where they need help but aren’t able to call for it. That’s where people like BTC guy and Blazing Inferno come in since they seem to have this ability to detect danger, I think. I can’t really condone nor can I condemn either side. It’s a very gray thing on this morality spectrum.”

“That was a very insightful opinion,” Chanyeol responded after taking a sip of his drink from the glass bottle, “When I ask people these questions, they just start going on and on about which hero they prefer and why they like them and dislike the other. You’re very smart for a hospital nurse.”

“Thanks, I suppose,” Kyungsoo shrugged, not really sure how to take the backhanded compliment but not really caring about it either as he too continued drinking from his bottle of soju.  

                                                                                                                                                      

 

Through the rest of the night –or early morning-, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol ended up making another trip to Chanyeol’s fridge to get another bottle of soju each, leaving only two bottles left in the crate of six bottles, which Chanyeol’s mother had bought for him last week together with his usual groceries.

Since Kyungsoo was on the night shift this week, he wasn’t expected at work until five in the evening so he had all the time to be hanging out on the loveseat in Chanyeol’s apartment, where they eventually finished all of the six bottles of soju anyway.

 

After three bottles of soju each, both Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were beyond flushed red on their faces and all the way down to their chests because of the alcohol.

Kyungsoo wasn’t crying anymore. In fact, he was laughing along with Chanyeol at goodness knew what. Their inhibitions were lowered because of the alcohol and they were so tipsy that they could even laugh at something simple like someone walking down the street, even if there was nothing remotely funny about that.

 

 

Even forgetting that his hand was injured, Kyungsoo accidentally slapped Chanyeol’s shoulder in the fit of laughter after hearing an old story Chanyeol was telling him about.

“Ow,” Kyungsoo flinched, retracting his hand back when it hurt from slapping Chanyeol on the shoulder. Then, Kyungsoo broke out into a fit of giggles again when his drunk self thought that was actually funny.

Kyungsoo’s laughter was infectious and Chanyeol too cackled along, now sitting pressed up against Kyungsoo beside him.

 

Somehow, Kyungsoo’s hand found their way to Chanyeol’s shoulder, rubbing Chanyeol where he had just accidentally hit him. Despite being in his drunken stupor, Kyungsoo was able to notice a slight stubble growing on Chanyeol’s under chin as he moved his hand to touch exactly there.

Kyungsoo scratched on the prickly stubble as if he was petting a cat, “Are you trying to grow out a beard?”

“Nope,” Chanyeol leaned backward against the loveseat, letting his back rest and looking up towards the ceiling, “I guess it’s just time for me to shave soon. Tomorrow, perhaps.”

“My dad kept a beard,” Kyungsoo remembered as tears began to form at the corner of his eyes, getting emotional again at the memory.

 

 

 

Kyungsoo pulled his hand away from Chanyeol, resting it on his lap as he sobbed, sadly. Alcohol was really a double-edged sword. While it also helped Kyungsoo feel lighter and better, it also amplified the negative emotions he found himself falling into again.

Chanyeol, on the other hand, was beginning to panic from seeing Kyungsoo about to cry again. Being drunk made Chanyeol a whole lot more confused and unsure at how to go about this situation again.                                     

 

“Please don’t cry,” Chanyeol pleaded in a soft voice, holding Kyungsoo by the shoulder, “I know your real daddy is gone now but I can be your new daddy, okay?”

Kyungsoo sniffled, looking up at Chanyeol from behind tear-stained glasses, “You’ll be my new daddy?”

“Yeah, of course. I can be your daddy,” Chanyeol seemed a bit excited too despite feeling himself already gradually sobering up, thinking that he wouldn't enjoy this as much if he wasn't drunk. 

“Daddy,” Kyungsoo then cooed, rubbing his hand on the sides of Chanyeol’s long neck and down to the latter’s strong shoulders and broad chest. With hooded eyes and a pouty expression, Kyungsoo bit on his lower lip as he continued to run his hands over Chanyeol’s toned and muscular chest, even running his bandaged fingers down Chanyeol’s shoulders and arm length.

Chanyeol looked down below to where Kyungsoo’s hand were roaming over his clothed chest, feeling giddy already from either the alcohol or the rush of excitement at having Kyungsoo explore his body like that. “You like touching daddy, huh?” Chanyeol said.

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo replied with a childlike tone, puffing his cheeks, “You’re very big, daddy. My real daddy was a strong man but he wasn’t as big as you. You must be strong, daddy.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

“Aha, of course. I’m big and strong so I can save you anytime, baby boy,” Chanyeol chuckled, feeling a bit proud of himself for not skipping his thrice-weekly exercises at the gym where his mother still paid for his membership.

“Really?” Kyungsoo blinked, pressing both of his smaller hands to Chanyeol’s pectoral muscles as he continued to pout at Chanyeol’s direction.

“Mhm. I bet I could rush into a burning fire to save you. ” Chanyeol nodded, “Just tell me what you want, baby.”

 

Kyungsoo shifted up on the loveseat so he could be pressed up even more at Chanyeol’s side. Then, Kyungsoo laid his head on Chanyeol’s shoulder with a hand still pressed to Chanyeol’s chest, swinging his legs over Chanyeol’s so he was almost sitting in the latter’s lap.

Kyungsoo then wrapped his arms around Chanyeol’s neck to hoist himself up until he was at least eye level with Chanyeol.

“-but daddy,” Kyungsoo whined, “If you run into a burning fire to save me, you’ll catch on fire and that’s not good.”

“Oh, that’s okay, baby,” Chanyeol assured, “Daddy is already blazing so I’ll be alright.”

“Really? Like the Blazing Inferno who can’t catch on fire?” Kyungsoo mentioned, tilting his head slightly as he maintained the eye-contact with Chanyeol.

 

 

 

At that moment, Chanyeol felt as if he was being challenged by Kyungsoo right there and then. Chanyeol was confident and pretty sure that Kyungsoo or anyone for that matter didn't know his identity as the Blazing Inferno.

Furthermore, Kyungsoo was just drunk and they had been discussing Blazing Inferno earlier on, so that explained some things. There was no conceivable way that Chanyeol could think of how Kyungsoo actually figured out his real identity.

Chanyeol didn’t even know how he, a superhero, was feeling intimidated by a nurse with literal daddy issues who was currently sitting on his lap.

 

Quickly, Chanyeol changed the subject, “Psh, of course not. Daddy could never be as hot as the Blazing Inferno. There’s no way I could be a strong, powerful and handsome hero that everyone loves like Blazing Inferno. Don’t you think that the Blazing Inferno is just really an awesome guy though compared to that lame ass BTC guy? What kind of superhero name is BTC guy anyway?”

“Yeah, I think he’s awesome compared to that BTC guy who just seems all sad and emotional,” Kyungsoo replied, maintaining that pout on his lips, leaning his head against Chanyeol’s shoulder as he traced circles with his bandaged finger on Chanyeol’s firm chest.

“True,” Chanyeol agreed with Kyungsoo, maybe only because Kyungsoo was affirming his beliefs, “Blazing Inferno is definitely cooler than BTC guy. At least Blazing Inferno’s powers actually make sense. BTC guy doesn’t even make sense. Like it’s literally impossible to even have powers to just-,”

 

 

 

Chanyeol was about to continue ranting and comparing as to why Blazing Inferno guy was the better superhero when he noticed that Kyungsoo was already asleep on his shoulder.

There was no end to it when Chanyeol got all riled up about that. If he could write more than ten thousands of words essay about how Blazing Inferno deserved official recognition, he could certainly do the same to affirm why he was better than BTC guy.

So it wasn’t a surprise when Kyungsoo actually fell asleep while Chanyeol was in the middle of his “superhero worship” speech.

 

Chanyeol tried waking Kyungsoo up so he could at least move to Chanyeol’s bed, even if he was too tired and blacked out drunk to return to his own apartment next door. Kyungsoo didn’t seem to budge though and although he stirred in his sleep slightly, he continued sleeping soundly like a baby on Chanyeol’s chest.

Getting sleepy himself too and knowing it would be way too uncomfortable to just sleep on the loveseat with another grown ass adult on his lap- despite how much smaller and lighter Kyungsoo was compared to him- Chanyeol had to move Kyungsoo to his bed.

 

 

With ease, Chanyeol was able to pick up and carry Kyungsoo a few meters away to his bed from the loveseat.

Chanyeol was sort of hoping that Kyungsoo would wake up from all that movements so he could return to his own apartment. But that didn’t happen though and Kyungsoo continued sleeping but on different furniture this time.

 

Chanyeol wasn’t really trying to chase Kyungsoo out of his place but he was worried about some house or car catching fire while a helpless family was inside, needing his help before the firefighters could arrive. He was afraid of just leaving like that and the possibility that Kyungsoo would find out about his superhero secret if he did so.

 

 

Maybe, it was out of luck that nothing actually happened for the rest of the night until Kyungsoo woke up at noon later that day.

Chanyeol was already awake by then because he hadn’t been able to sleep for long on the loveseat because it was uncomfortable and something he wasn’t used to sleeping on. Chanyeol respected Kyungsoo and left him alone sleeping on the bed.

 

 

 

 

After Kyungsoo left Chanyeol’s apartment and went back to his own, they didn’t meet each other again until it was evening and Kyungsoo was about to leave for his shift.

Now over a year of living in the apartment next to Kyungsoo, Chanyeol much practically had Kyungsoo’s schedule memorized.

 

When he heard Kyungsoo about to leave for the day, Chanyeol quickly got off the computer and dashed out the apartment to catch Kyungsoo in the corridor hallway.

 

 

Kyungsoo was wearing his hospital scrubs under a light cardigan and had his glasses on too. He had replaced the bandages on his hand with new and clean ones.

Kyungsoo had his earphones in, attached to the phone in his sling bag, so he could listen to music on the daily commute to work when he ran into Chanyeol just after he had locked his apartment and was about to leave.

 

“Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol called out, standing in between Kyungsoo and the rest of the way down the corridor.

“Yeah, Chanyeol, what’s up?” Kyungsoo asked, peeling off an earbud from one ear.

“Umm…about the things last night or earlier this day to be exact,” Chanyeol began to talk.

“Oh, is it about that ‘thing’?” Kyungsoo hinted but not exactly explaining what it was he meant before he continued, “You want me to keep calling you daddy and not Chanyeol? You know, I was really drunk last night and I can’t really remember much except for that for some reasons.”

“Wha-,” Chanyeol certainly didn’t forget it but he was stunned nonetheless because he hadn’t even been thinking about it, “No. I wasn’t talking about that. It was about what you told me last night about you being gay and wanting to come out to your stepmother instead, now that your father has passed away. But you were afraid of ruining your relationship with her because she's religious and stuff like that.”

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows and scrunched his forehead, “Uh…I don’t think I remember telling you that. Did I?”

“Well, even if you didn’t remember that from last night, I do know about it so it means I must have indeed heard about it from you,” Chanyeol pointed out.

“That makes sense,” Kyungsoo pondered, “I guess I must have told that you last night. But what about it though?”

“Well…uh…,” Chanyeol paused, collecting his words, “If you don’t remember, I also mentioned some stuff about wanting to help you out and I decided that I do want to help you with your problems, whatever it is you might need help with.”

“Oh, I remember that now,” Kyungsoo confirmed, “You don’t really have to do that though, you know. I’m an adult and I’m responsible for my own life. Besides, it’s not like you’re a superhero or something.”

 

Chanyeol didn’t blame Kyungsoo because it was his decision to hide his identity as Blazing Inferno, a real superhero or so Chanyeol believed.

Chanyeol pretended to laugh it off but deep inside, he felt like his ego and self-pride was getting torn apart right at the seams, much like the wild claims that BTC guy was able to create a tear in the fabric of time and reality.

 

 


	2. Wild Fire

 

A week later, Chanyeol is finally out of the house in his flashy orange-yellow superhero garb; which was actually a cosplay outfit for some anime character which he later modified and painted on.

Sure, Chanyeol could sew a button on and fix some tears in his clothes but making an entire superhero outfit was still something above his skills levels and if he wasn’t trying to hide his alter ego identity, he’d probably have his mother sew one for him too.

Besides, in the anime the superhero outfit came from, the aforementioned character was a strong and brave one who was popular among the people; traits Chanyeol liked to believe he had too.

 

 

The Seoul fire department, regular fire drills, and built-in fire extinguishing systems seemed to be proving their effectiveness in the past week because Chanyeol hadn’t been able to go out and find a fire for him to put out and rescue people from.

Chanyeol thought he had struck his luck when one Thursday afternoon, he picked up a mention of a fire on the police scanner, occurring behind an abandoned factory building somewhere in downtown Seoul not very far from him too.

 

Chanyeol had trained for the past six years to quickly undress out of his regular clothes and then redress himself in the Blazing Inferno outfit in under a minute. Therefore, he was able to do that with ease and speed, before dashing out of the door and then using his scooter in the parking lots to rush down to the scene of the fire.

 

 

 

Chanyeol always believed that the day Seoul city finally acknowledged him as the city’s official superhero and he was given a free-to-use car by the mayor, he wouldn’t have to be riding an old sputtering scooter in such a flashy outfit anymore.

Chanyeol thought that riding the scooter was actually far beneath the Blazing Inferno but he didn’t really have much of a choice since he was unemployed and his mother couldn’t afford to buy him a car.

 

 

It attracted a lot of attention when he was out on his scooter all dressed like that in broad daylight but Chanyeol loved attention so there was that. Even if he didn’t realize that not all the attention he was getting wasn’t exactly positive or disapproving.

As Chanyeol whizzed through busy traffic and sidewalks, swerving rather recklessly between cars as he was trying to rush to the scene of the fire with his uncanny ability to somewhat detect if a larger than usual fire was burning (although the address and location given out from the police scanner was really telling him the way); people certainly stopped to stare and whisper to each other about him.

 

“Is he that Blazing Inferno guy? You know the one who calls himself a ‘superhero’?” A woman in a business suit whispered to her friend at the sidewalk.

“Isn’t he that guy who put out my friend’s bonfire during a garden party, even though we already had a permit for it from the city?” A man said to another from the coffee shop Chanyeol just passed by on his scooter.

“I remember him,” A girl in a school uniform mentioned to the friends she was with, “My neighbor’s house was on fire and he tried burning the rest of the house which wasn’t on fire because he said that it would stop if the fire didn’t have anything else to burn.

 

 

Maybe it was a good thing Chanyeol wasn’t able to hear the gossip and hushes of the people commenting about him, because he would have been hurt for sure.

But it wasn’t like he would be able to understand why people were so disapproving of him, when in his own eyes; he was the absolutely needed superhero.

Because in his own eyes, Chanyeol didn’t believe he wasn’t doing anything wrong.

 

 

 

Chanyeol arrived at the scene of the fire, which turned out to be a literal dumpster fire behind the abandoned factory building that had closed down a good ten years ago. He was faster than the fire department thanks to his scooter which was small enough to just cut in between the traffic, not that he was adhering to red lights, stop signs and traffic rules anyway.

Apparently, some kid was playing around with a lighter and threw some burning trash into the dumpster, which in turn had caused the whole dumpster and all the trash in it to catch on fire. The fire had emitted large black plumes of smoke into the sky due to its contents, although it was mostly contained inside the dumpster itself and posed no further risk.

 

 

There was no one else in sight except for a few passersby who were taking pictures and recording videos of the fire while giggling and repeatedly going, “Whoa, look at that!”, in the loudest and most obnoxious voice they had, as if they had never seen a fire burning before.

Chanyeol didn’t mind that and actually purposely tried to be in their camera frame as much as possible, so they could record himself in return too, further boosting his exposure and popularity when it was posted online later on.

 

But as a superhero, Chanyeol didn’t want anyone getting injured and made sure to tell them to stay as far back before approaching the dumpster fire and held his hands out towards it.

Chanyeol attempted to extinguish the fire with his abilities to manipulate fire and also show off on camera that he was capable of such a feat. But although he was literally fireproof and inflammable, he could still feel the heat emitted from the fire and he had to close his eyes and wince as he gradually approached the burning dumpster before he was close enough to put the fire out.

 

 

 

Chanyeol thought his powers were certainly working when he felt a rush of cool air blowing in his direction instead and the heat of the fire suddenly dissipating into nothing. Chanyeol didn’t felt like he had done anything at all but it appeared that somehow, the fire had been put out.

Behind him, the people recording the whole incident were going “ooh” and “aah”, leading Chanyeol to believe that he had indeed taken care of the situation.

 

At the same time, he could hear the fire truck sirens wailing and echoing off of the walls, having just arrived at the scene.

Chanyeol turned around and finally opened his eyes, putting his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest majestically as he rehearsed a speech to say to the firefighters about how they were late and how he was faster and had done their job, which would support his argument that Blazing Inferno was a very much needed superhero.

 

 

The fire truck had just pulled up at the scene and the firefighters were dashing out of the vehicle to assess and tackle the situation, which Chanyeol wanted to proudly claim that he had diffused.

Chanyeol was just about to do so when a girl in the crowd shrieked as if she was reaching orgasm, “Oh my god, it’s BTC guy!”

 

Chanyeol was honestly startled and would have almost jumped out of his shoes when he heard BTC guy being mentioned. Because, there BTC guy was, standing maybe a few meters away from Chanyeol in his trademark hooded black trench coat, black rubber boots, and black leather gloves.

As proud as Chanyeol wanted to be of himself, he realized now that he hadn’t done anything and it was BTC guy who had somehow put the fire out with his supposed ability to control any kind of matter in the universe.

 

 

 

“You!” Chanyeol pointed a finger and furiously marched towards BTC guy. For so long, Chanyeol had felt challenged by someone he never even met and today he was going to set it straight once and for all, on who would be able to claim the title of the city superhero, even if such a title didn’t exist and BTC guy wasn’t after it anyway.

BTC guy backed away as Chanyeol approached him, putting his arms out in front of him in a defensive stance. BTC guy was obviously not looking for any sort of conflict, nor did they understand what Chanyeol’s intentions were.

 

 

This was the first time Chanyeol had met BTC guy in person. BTC was smaller built and appeared to be a bit shorter than him, although almost everyone was shorter than Chanyeol anyway.

Chanyeol was around 185cm (6’1”) give or take a centimeter or two and Chanyeol estimated that BTC guy was maybe around 178cm (5’10”) or so. Chanyeol guessed that BTC guy was most likely male but it was also possible for them to be a tall female too.

 

Ignoring the growing crowd and the confused firefighters who just wanted to do their job, Chanyeol charged forward at BTC guy and attempted to grab them by the collar.

In front of all the cameras and people, Chanyeol wanted to show the people who the real superhero was and expose BTC guy as the fraud they were. For all Chanyeol knew, BTC guy was probably hiding a fire extinguisher under the trench coat and that their powers were nothing but bollocks.

Chanyeol truly believed he was the real superhero here.

 

 

 

Before Chanyeol could even attempt to throw BTC guy to the ground, he was suddenly lifted up by the collar into the air, rising high above the dumpster, above the people, above the fire truck, above the abandoned factory buildings and soon above the entire visible Seoul city skyline.

Chanyeol was screaming like a child, crying but without tears as BTC guy seemed to be levitating hundreds of meters above the ground and holding him by the mere spandex material of his Blazing Inferno outfit.

 

The wind up there was strong and howled in his ears. Even with BTC guy’s trench coat and hood flapping around in the wind, their face and identity remained obscured and Chanyeol was too afraid to try and look anyway.

“Please, put me down,” Chanyeol begged, legs flailing in the air, wailing as he gripped onto the just one arm BTC guy was holding him with, “You’re the real superhero, I get it. I won’t hurt you. Please. I mean you no harm. Just put me down.”

Chanyeol almost pissed his pants when BTC guy’s arm jerked slightly as he began to plead, “Oh my god. Someone, please help. Mom! Dad! I don’t want this.”

 

 

Surely, now, Chanyeol didn’t doubt one bit that BTC guy could fly, levitate in the air and possessed such immense strength to just hold up Chanyeol like that mid-air.

Chanyeol continued to cry and beg to be let down. When BTC guy’s arm seemed to shake and tremble slightly from holding him up, Chanyeol began to cry even harder if BTC guy would suddenly let him go just like that.

Chanyeol was fireproof, not fall proof, after all.   

 

“Ah, shit,” BTC guy cursed under his breath.

In the split second it took for Chanyeol to hear BTC guy’s voice for the first time, the grip on his spandex collar faltered and Chanyeol was sent plummeting towards the ground when BTC guy seemed to have accidentally let him go.

The fall towards the ground was long but due to gravity, it would take just a few seconds before Chanyeol was a jelly of flesh, blood, and bones with scattered brains on the pavement.

 

 

 

Chanyeol didn’t even have the time to process his own mortality and impending doom when he felt himself just stopping while he had been falling.

Chanyeol hyperventilated, breathing rapidly and was shaking as he tried to understand what had just happened. He was very much alive and his heart beating like mad in his chest was evidence of that.

 

At the same time, Chanyeol had also read a lot of Spiderman comics where Mary Jane dies because of a broken neck due to whiplash, because Peter Parker had abruptly tried to catch her too fast in mid-air while she was falling off the clock tower.

Chanyeol found himself just frozen in mid-air maybe two or three meters above the pavement he was about to be jelly on. He was completely fine and then Chanyeol realized that the world around him just seemed to stop.

 

 

The traffic below had stopped, the people walking were just frozen in animation, and the pigeons flying overheard were just stagnant in the air. There was no more wind, even the air was still.

It was as if time itself had been paused and came to a complete standstill. Now, Chanyeol understood why he wasn’t dead from being suddenly caught mid-air at high velocity.

 

In such a situation, it wasn’t hard to find out who was doing this when Chanyeol could see BTC guy on the ground below him, being the only person and thing that was actually moving in the time-stopped world.

BTC guy seemed to be wiping the upper half of his face under the hood with the back of his gloved hand. BTC guy also seemed to be trembling at the shoulders slightly, as if he was crying, although Chanyeol didn’t believe that was the case.

 

 

So it was really proven that BTC guy really had all these powers to control matter, the fabric of time and even reality.

This was some overpowered, imbalanced, god-level bullshit powers, Chanyeol thought. Knowing how unfair it was that someone like BTC guy had all the cool powers, Chanyeol's mood shifted from being scared for his life to being pissed off.

 

But before Chanyeol could start screaming about the unfairness, time returned to normal and seemed to flow again, causing Chanyeol to drop to the pavement but a safe height where he didn’t end up as organ soup on the pavement.

Although, Chanyeol did scrape his hands and bruised his knees from the fall at that height, even through the spandex material of his outfit.

 

 

 

When the people noticed Blazing Inferno just dropping to the ground out of nowhere, everyone stopped to gather and crowd him with their phones out to snap pictures of Chanyeol who was just trying to get out of there as soon as possible.

For once, Chanyeol didn’t actually want all the public attention and the flashing cameras on him. He just wanted to go home and hide in his apartment for the rest of the day after suffering such a huge blow of humiliation on his ego.

 

 

Limping, Chanyeol managed to hide in back alleys to retrieve his scooter and then change out of his Blazing Inferno suit with the civilian clothes he always brought along with him.

Then, Chanyeol had to ride back home on his old scooter but as Park Chanyeol, an unemployed college dropout who spent most of his day on the computer doing arguably unproductive things.

 

 

 

Chanyeol spent the rest of the day cooped up in his apartment, playing pay-to-win games charged to his mother's credit card and looking for memes on his phone. He didn’t even get up and leave his apartment to talk to Kyungsoo when he heard the latter leaving for work in the evening. Usually, Chanyeol would at least pop his head out of the door to talk to Kyungsoo for a few minutes before that.

 

Not able to resist the temptation, Chanyeol dared to look up Blazing Inferno online, where he already saw the video of the events that day being posted. Some of the videos had been posted on clickbait sites with tons of pop-up ads where it was labeled with a sensational title such as “Blazing Inferno getting pawned by BTC guy!! You won’t believe what happens!”

There were videos of him being lifted into the air by BTC guy just when Chanyeol was about to throw the punch. However, no videos showed time being stopped and him just being suspended in mid-air.

Nobody seemed to realize or talk about the whole time being stopped incident too. It seemed that only Chanyeol knew about this and he was about to go brag about his unique experience when he realized that he shouldn’t actually be putting up BTC guy further on the public pedestal of approval. 

 

Safe to say, Chanyeol despised BTC guy even more now.

 

 

 

At a quarter to two in the morning, Chanyeol heard Kyungsoo coming home from work. Then, about ten minutes later or so, Chanyeol heard Kyungsoo leaving his apartment once again.

Curious and now that he decided he wanted to talk, Chanyeol left his room to find Kyungsoo walking down the corridor hallway with a basket of laundry and detergent bottles heaped onto the clothes.

 

“You’re doing laundry?” Chanyeol stated the obvious.

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo replied, shifting the weight of the basket in his arms, “It’s my day off tomorrow so I want to finish my chores so that I can sleep in. How about you? Did you do your laundry yet?”

“Nah, my mom does it for me when she comes over. She’s coming this Friday,” Chanyeol answered.

“Oh, okay,” Kyungsoo comprehended, “Well, I’m going down to the laundry room to do mine then. You can come and hang out with me if you’d like.”

“Sure!” Chanyeol cheerfully agreed, “I don’t really have anything to do anyway. Let me lock up first.”

“Of course, take your time. I’ll head on there first, you’ll know where to find me,” Kyungsoo mentioned, smiling a bit when he then noticed the band-aids on Chanyeol’s knees, “Are you alright? Did you get hurt? I can have a look at that if you want.”

“I just tripped,” Chanyeol bluffed, brushing it off, “It’s not a big deal. I can take it.”

“Alright then,” Kyungsoo accepted, “Let me know if you change your mind, I guess.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Chanyeol played it off, “You should worry more about yourself. Look, you’re using some arm braces now, just right after the cuts on your hands healed. Did you get hurt at work again?”

“Yeah, kinda,” Kyungsoo answered, “I deal with a rowdy crowd of people at times and they can get quite physical you know. Also, I have to lift and carry heavy stuff around so it puts some strain on my arm.”

“Jeez,” Chanyeol placed his hands on his hips, “Do you work in a mental facility with some violent patients or something like that?”

“I guess you could say so,” Kyungsoo shrugged, excusing himself, “Anyway, I’ll go ahead first. See you in a bit.”

“Alright,” Chanyeol waved a hand, going back inside to turn off his electrical appliances and then locking his apartment up before going down to the apartment’s laundry room in the basement.

 

 

 

Chanyeol arrived in the apartment’s dimly lit laundry room in the basement, where the plumbing pipes creaked often; just right after Kyungsoo had loaded the washer with his clothes and added the detergent.

Kyungsoo was setting the timer on the washer and pressing the button to start the washing cycle when Chanyeol arrived, sitting himself down on the bench in front of the machine.

 

Chanyeol noticed the way Kyungsoo was observing his bandaged knees, "So you're sure you really don't need me to have a look at that? It looks like it hurts," Kyungsoo commented, noticing the blue-black skin around Chanyeol's knee from where he had gotten injured.

Confidently, Chanyeol replied, "I told you, didn't I? I am strong and you don't have to worry about me. I'm your blazing daddy, remember? In fact, as your daddy, I should be the one worried about you instead."

"I suppose so," Kyungsoo sheepishly replied, rubbing his elbows from over the brace guards he was wearing there as he tried to avoid Chanyeol's gaze. 

 

 

Chanyeol got up from the bench, joining Kyungsoo who had been standing beside the washer the entire time.

"Did you know, I met the Blazing Inferno today?" Chanyeol proudly mentioned, "The stuff online about Blazing Inferno having this showdown with BTC guy. I happened to be passing and was right there and saw it happen with my own two eyes."

"Oh yeah, what about it? I've been busy today so I hadn't had the time to go online and see what's going on," Kyungsoo revealed.

"Well, if you didn't know," Chanyeol told, "Apparently, Blazing Inferno and BTC guy both rushed to put out this huge fire. Blazing Inferno got there first but BTC guy tried to steal his thunder and they got into a showdown because of that. So Blazing Inferno was going to show BTC guy who the real superhero of Seoul City was but something happened and BTC guy just left the fight. I guess he just got scared at Blazing Inferno. I mean, who wouldn’t? Blazing Inferno is just flaming with charisma and strength."

“Oh wow. That’s good for you to finally see Blazing Inferno in person since you seem to be a pretty big fan of him,” Kyungsoo stated.

“I know right!” Chanyeol gushed, making wild hand gestures as he described how Blazing Inferno supposedly fought and stand his ground versus BTC guy when the aforementioned events certainly never happened in that manner at all.

“That sounds great, I suppose,” Kyungsoo remarked, listening to Chanyeol’s tall tales, “So, how are Blazing Inferno and BTC guy in person? Since you were able to see them in real life and up close.”

“Oh, Blazing Inferno is just mad dashing handsome and I can attest you with that because I’m gay too so I know what’s attractive and not in a man. He’s super tall and muscular too. Built like a Greek god, I’d say,” Chanyeol informed, flexing his chest and arms in front of Kyungsoo as if to mimic Blazing Inferno’s build.

“Wow,” Kyungsoo exclaimed, “So you were able to see his real face under that wrestling mask he wears?”

“Umm...yeah kinda. It came a bit loose and stuff like that while he was fighting,” Chanyeol looked away from Kyungsoo, a bit flustered because he wasn’t sure how to follow up with that.

“What about BTC guy though? How is he in person?” Kyungsoo inquired, tilting his head slightly as he gazed up towards Chanyeol.

“He’s shorter than Blazing Inferno,” Chanyeol hummed in thought, “-but taller than you for sure. He seemed pretty strong too but he wasn’t as built as Blazing Inferno. I still believe he’s not someone you’d want to pick a fight with though even though Blazing Inferno is obviously better. You’d just get beaten to a pulp against BTC guy, least to even say if you were to go up against Blazing Inferno. That’s why you need me to protect you, Kyungsoo.”

“Don’t worry,” Kyungsoo assured, “I don’t have plans to go against any of these ‘superhero’ guys. I don’t really like conflict anyway so I think I’ll be alright.”

“-but I’m your daddy now, remember?” Chanyeol reminded, arching an eyebrow suggestively towards Kyungsoo.

“I suppose so,” Kyungsoo squirmed slightly, not quite fond of the memory of him opening up that much to Chanyeol because he had been emotional and later- drunk.

“You know what! I have a suggestion,” Chanyeol exclaimed, “I read about this thing online where some people who lost the opportunity to get to do what they wanted could use the help of a substitute to help them make up for it. I think you could sure use that.”

“What’s your point?” Kyungsoo questioned, “I don’t think I understand.”

“Well, your father is dead now and that’s something pretty permanent you can’t undo. So because you lost the opportunity to ever come out with your sexuality to him, you should pretend that I’m your daddy- which I am- and come out to me instead. It’s not the real deal but at least you’ll probably get the burden off your back,” Chanyeol suggested.

 

 

Chanyeol then smiled, showing off his pearly white teeth, feeling rather confident of himself that his suggestion would be welcomed and proven effective.

Chanyeol really felt the need to be Kyungsoo’s “superhero” after all, not realizing that he himself was substituting that with his greatest wish to be recognized by anyone as a "superhero".

 

 

But instead, Kyungsoo began heaving and sobbing, crying as he continuously wiped his tears from his face and under his glasses with the back of his hand. The tears fell off Kyungsoo’s chin, even staining down all the way to his shirt.

If anything, the only thing Chanyeol gained out of this was that Kyungsoo seemed to cry easily and a lot too.

 

And again, Chanyeol panicked when Kyungsoo started crying because he didn’t know what to do, didn’t want to escalate this situation further and felt absolutely horrible for being the cause as to why Kyungsoo was like that.

Chanyeol never really solved any problems, even as the so-called Blazing Inferno, so he had no idea as to how to handle things, even if it was an adult man crying out loud because he missed his deceased father.

 

 

 

In an attempt to diffuse the situation, Chanyeol ended up bringing a loudly sobbing Kyungsoo back to his apartment, leaving Kyungsoo’s laundry sitting in the washer for the meantime even after the machine cycle was over. That was sort of rude to the other tenants but it was not like anyone living in the apartment would need to do their laundry at two in the morning anyway.

“Please don’t cry, okay?” Chanyeol hushed, sitting Kyungsoo down on his loveseat as he scrambled to find tissue papers to wipe Kyungsoo’s tears away with. Chanyeol only managed to find the hidden tissue box under his bed which was for when he masturbated. But it had to do for now.

 

Chanyeol pulled out a generous amount of tissue paper from the box which he then handed to Kyungsoo, while also taking some to dab on Kyungsoo’s cheek and under his eyes, avoiding knocking his glasses over.

“Daddy’s here, alright?” Chanyeol tried to comfort Kyungsoo, pulling him into a hug and letting Kyungsoo rest his head on Chanyeol’s chest, “Just tell me what you want and I’ll do it, okay? Daddy will do anything for his baby boy.”

“I want you to take care of me, daddy,” Kyungsoo requested in a high-pitched voice, almost as if he was really acting like a child, “It’s so difficult to do everything by myself. It’s so hard to think about everything myself. I need daddy to help me and tell me what to do and do things for me. I need daddy’s guidance.”

“Okay, I’ll do that,” Chanyeol didn’t think much before agreeing, “Just tell daddy what you want to do now.”

“I’m hungry and tired, daddy. I just want to eat and go to sleep. Please, daddy,” Kyungsoo begged with a pouty expression and fluttering eyes as he gazed up towards Chanyeol.

“Alright,” Chanyeol was slightly unnerved because he wasn’t exactly sure how to handle it but wanted to anyway, “Daddy will go make something for you to eat and then we’ll go to sleep. Just wait here, okay?”

“Okay, daddy,” Kyungsoo nodded, tugging playfully onto the fabric of Chanyeol’s shirt before finally letting him get up from the loveseat.

 

Chanyeol didn’t really do much cooking and lacked the ingredients to do so anyway. He mostly survived on takeouts, deliveries and a lot of protein shakes.

Therefore, he was at a loss and ended up rummaging through his kitchen and cabinets in search of something to feed Kyungsoo with.

 

 

 

Chanyeol eventually settled on something simple which he liked to think as comfort food. It was a grilled cheese sandwich, which Chanyeol prepared by spreading mayonnaise onto the bread before slapping a cheddar cheese slice on it and then tossing the entire plate into the oven for a few minutes.

 

While waiting for the cheese to melt in the oven, Chanyeol scurried Kyungsoo over to his bed, where he fluffed up the pillows and spread out an extra blanket usually used only in the winter, for Kyungsoo to sleep with.

“Daddy will be right back with the food soon, alright?” Chanyeol scratched under Kyungsoo’s chin after he tucked the latter in bed, smiling before getting up again to get the sandwich from the oven before it burned.

“Okay, daddy,” Kyungsoo nodded, covering himself with the blanket up all the way to his chin.

Being a daddy was tough already even if Chanyeol hadn’t really done much yet.

 

 

 

The plate came out hot from the oven and Chanyeol was grateful he couldn’t get burned because it allowed him to carry the plate all the way to the bed without even needing protective mittens.

Chanyeol sat on the bed beside Kyungsoo who was tucked in and waiting for him. “Daddy doesn’t usually let people eat on the bed so it’s just for tonight, okay?”

“Yes, daddy, I understand,” Kyungsoo nodded, understanding his orders.

 

Chanyeol didn’t feel any pain from handling the searing hot sandwich fresh from the oven, so he had forgotten and it had completely slipped his mind that the cheese inside was scalding and could burn someone’s tongue or mouth.

Without realizing it, Chanyeol fed the cheese sandwich to Kyungsoo as he cupped a hand a below Kyungsoo’s chin to catch the crumbs that fell apart.

Kyungsoo ate the sandwich as it was being fed to him without complaints or any visible signs of discomfort, even slowly chewing it as if nothing was wrong. Chanyeol was none the wiser either.

 

 

After Kyungsoo had finished the sandwich and cleaned up a little by washing and rinsing his mouth at the sink, Chanyeol then announced, “It’s time to sleep now, baby.”

Kyungsoo, still role playing the ‘baby’, squealed in glee as he hopped back onto the bed and burrowed under the blankets.

 

Chanyeol played along, pretending to not know where Kyungsoo was and then surprising the latter when he “found” Kyungsoo hiding under the blankets.

Kyungsoo was giggling, rolling over on the bed as Chanyeol indulged him in his fantasy.

 

 

Then, when it was almost time for Kyungsoo to sleep, Chanyeol attempted to read a pdf file of a children’s book off of his phone for Kyungsoo. The story was simple but Chanyeol did think that the author could have done better too had they not rushed the book, much like the story he was in currently.

Since the story was short and meant to be a bedtime one for children, Chanyeol finished it fast too.

 

Soon enough, Chanyeol was tucking Kyungsoo into bed, fixing the pillows and blankets so he was lying down comfortably and ready to sleep.

“Okay, baby, good night,” Chanyeol helped take Kyungsoo’s glasses off.

“Good night, daddy, and don’t forget my laundry,” Kyungsoo reminded, still sounding child-like despite mentioning a rather adult task.

“Of course, I won’t. Sleep tight, baby and have good dreams,” Chanyeol wished Kyungsoo once more.

 

 

Only when Kyungsoo had closed his eyes and went to sleep, Chanyeol left his apartment to go down to the laundry room to get Kyungsoo’s clothes from the washer. Somehow, Chanyeol found himself sighing out of relief and feeling tired from just having to indulge Kyungsoo even for a short while.

Chanyeol wasn’t sure if he was just tired or if being a dad was difficult. He was sure it was the latter though.

                                                              

That night, Chanyeol ended up sleeping on the loveseat and suffered back and neck pains the next morning as a result of it. He had a nice bed to sleep on but he had given it up to accommodate Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo was really out here making Chanyeol do what fathers would sacrifice for the sake of their children as a real daddy would.

 

 

 

 

In the following weeks, between indulging Kyungsoo’s fantasy and daddy issues, Chanyeol was still trying hard to fight for recognition of his superhero alter ego, Blazing Inferno.

It was tiring and Chanyeol found himself getting exhausted often, although he kept reminding himself that it was something he absolutely needed to do as a hero.

 

There were fires here and there occasionally but it was nothing too bad or life-threatening, nothing that would allow Chanyeol to show off his heroic deeds for sure.

BTC guy also seemed to be making his rounds around the city still, gaining popularity and approval by people on the internet, compared to how people were clowning Blazing Inferno instead. Especially after that viral video of him being dragged up into the air by BTC guy.

And maybe just maybe, Chanyeol got sick of all that and wanted to prove for once that he was better than BTC guy.

 

Chanyeol had a hero complex, after all, and typical to the syndrome he had, Chanyeol went out there to purposely cause a problem which he would later “fix”, just to show off the hero he thought he was.   

 

 

 

Some weeks later, Chanyeol was hanging out in the apartment corridor hallway, talking to Kyungsoo for a while before he would leave for his shift that evening.

For the past few months, this had become Chanyeol’s routine and he was honestly getting excited at the prospect of his and Kyungsoo’s relationship progressing even further.

But that wouldn’t be too possible if one of them ended up behind bars or admitted into some sort of facility though.

 

 

That evening, as he was talking to Kyungsoo as usual, armed policemen from the SWAT team and in full riot gear, stormed onto the floor. They tackled Chanyeol to the ground with a lot of force as they restrained and attempted to handcuff him.

Kyungsoo was startled and some of the policemen had to push him away to the side so he wouldn’t be involved in the physical brawl instigated by Chanyeol fighting back and resisting arrest.

 

Chanyeol yelled, screaming at the policemen, asking them what he had done to deserve this. Right in front of Kyungsoo, the policemen announced that Chanyeol was wanted under the suspicion for being the Blazing Inferno; who had caused a wildfire, that had resulted in enormous damage and even killed a few people.

In a mere few minutes, Chanyeol’s world came crumbling down in front of his eyes. Not only did Kyungsoo know that he was Blazing Inferno, but Chanyeol also learned that he had unintentionally hurt people and that even the government knew his identity now.

There was no way Blazing Inferno would ever be recognized as a superhero now.

 

 

And while Chanyeol was pressed to the floor by four to five other policeman while another attempted to handcuff him, Chanyeol could see Kyungsoo's shoes, which struck him off as rather odd. Chanyeol had never seen Kyungsoo wearing this kind of shoes before. 

No wonder, Chanyeol felt something was off when he met Kyungsoo that day. Kyungsoo was wearing black boots that made him appear taller by several centimeters, much like something that came from BTC guy's trademark outfit.

 

 


	3. Fire Extinguisher

 

Four white walls, a bed bolted down to the wall, a sink, and a toilet. Those were the only things Chanyeol was allowed to have since his arrest and admission into a mental facility in the outskirts of Seoul.

Everything in the room was inflammable and a fire suppression system was also built in there because of his powers to manipulate fire.

All sources of heat and fire were also removed. Therefore, Chanyeol was almost always cold and didn’t get the luxury of having a mattress and bed sheets to sleep on, sleeping on planks of wood on his bed instead.

 

Chanyeol was allowed to wear clothes since that was considered a basic human right, although he was warned with severe punishment should he try to burn that or anything else.

Chanyeol did actually try burning his clothes for a source of fire and as a result, was put into a straight jacket in an isolation chamber for over 72 hours.

 

 

 

Chanyeol was alone in his room mostly, although some people who introduced themselves as a public defender and a doctor did come to visit and talk to him sometimes. He literally had no contact with the outside world and the only people he saw on a daily basis other than the doctors and public defenders, were the mental facility staff who came in occasionally to clean up his room and give him food while wearing fireproof suits with fire extinguishers ready on hand.

 

The public defender told Chanyeol that he was currently being evaluated for his mental health and state, to determine if he was fit to stand for trial. Among his charges were arson, public misdemeanor, massive damage to public and private property and also involuntary manslaughter.

When Chanyeol had heard the public defender explain all the charges that were to be brought up against him in court, Chanyeol screamed and thrashed around saying that he wasn’t a criminal and that he was indeed a superhero who was just out there trying to save people.

Because of that, Chanyeol’s trial was pushed back even further when the psychologists and doctors requested more time to further asses his “delusions”, needing to properly determine if Chanyeol was even in the right state of mind to be held responsible for his actions.

 

 

 

Chanyeol was not allowed any visitors and for the entire time he was between those plain-white four walls, Chanyeol didn’t hear from anybody else that wasn’t working there or was on his prosecution. Certainly not his parents, not the people he talked to often online and certainly not Kyungsoo either.

 

Chanyeol wondered if the news reported about this and if the public knew about the Blazing Inferno’s “crimes”. Chanyeol was really hoping that they didn’t because he still somehow believed that he would be able to walk free and go back out there to play the role of Seoul’s city superhero, Blazing Inferno.

Although, even Chanyeol was starting to doubt that by the day.

 

 

 

Drugged with all kinds of medicines and sedatives every day to put him in a “cooperative” mood and to make him sleep more so he wouldn’t be a nuisance, Chanyeol didn’t really have much time to think or mull upon his fate and the state he was in.

When Chanyeol did eventually catch on about this, he threatened to burn down the walls and escape, which resulted in him being thrown into a straight jacket and into the isolation chamber again.

 

Chanyeol just found it ironic that he was in there for supposedly harming others but yet he was here being harmed and violated of his rights in return. Did he not deserve rights too because of what he had done? Or were these supposed “enforcers” hypocrites themselves?

But Chanyeol didn’t really know much about the law to know his rights. Nor could he do much to get himself out of there, not unless he wanted another nurse in a fireproof suit to spray him in the face with a fire extinguisher again.

 

 

 

 

Then, things started getting “off”, or that was what Chanyeol thought it was. The drugs and medicines he was given on a daily basis no longer seemed to make him drowsy or sleepy.

In fact, he found himself being rather alert and awake even throughout the night when he would usually be knocked out and asleep from the sleeping pills after dinner.

 

In the middle of nights when he wasn’t able to sleep, Chanyeol began to hear some creaking and tapping noises on the walls, on the roof and even from below the floors of his room.

Chanyeol complained about this to the facility workers who came up to check up on him but they dismissed it as his delusions and hallucinations, telling Chanyeol that they didn’t hear anything and for him to ignore it and just go to sleep if he heard it again.

 

 

 

Chanyeol did try taking their advice but every night, the sounds grew stronger and ever closer to him. At one point it got so loud that Chanyeol had to cover his ears with his hands, making it literally impossible to sleep. Even the One Ok Rock concert he had been to last year wasn't as loud as this.

Chanyeol was beginning to believe that the facility staff actually knew about the sounds but were lying to him because this was apparently some new kind of torture they were experimenting on him, which is why they too purposely had been swapping out his drugs. 

 

 

Every night, Chanyeol would shut his eyes and cover his ears with his hands in an attempt to sleep, although that wasn’t usually impossible until the noises faded away when the morning came.

That night was no different and Chanyeol did that while he was trying to sleep when something else happened. Instead of the sounds, he felt someone nudging him in the waist while he was lying down on the wooden planks of his bed that he had gotten used to since then.

 

“Can you please stop!?” Chanyeol yelled to no one in particular as he shot up from his laying position to confront whatever or whoever it was, which he assumed to be the source of the noise. Delusions or otherwise, it was annoying and Chanyeol was pretty sure of that.

Like the click bait articles, Chanyeol always fell for, he was indeed shocked at what he soon found out.

 

 

 

There was no mistaking it. BTC guy was right there, in Chanyeol's heavily guarded room standing beside his bed in their trademark outfit. Somehow, BTC guy managed to get inside without anyone finding out, by using their severely overpowered abilities (of course), which Chanyeol was actually envious about.

“What the-,” Chanyeol gasped, sitting up on his bed with a face wide in shock. He had a lot of questions running in his head but what was BTC guy doing here in the first place? Had he really gone mad like the prosecution team seemed to think he was?

 

Chanyeol knew it was possible for BTC guy to be right there but why was he interested in seeing Chanyeol anyway?

“It’s time to get out. I’m going to break you out of here,” BTC guy spoke, revealing a male-sounding voice and confirming Chanyeol’s theory that BTC guy was most likely a male.

“What?” Chanyeol was still stunned, trying to comprehend the situation when he finally realized who the voice belonged to. He hadn’t heard it since his arrest and he felt like he had almost forgotten it but the voice was certainly Kyungsoo’s, without a doubt. Unless, of course, the coincidence that BTC guy happened to have a similar voice with Kyungsoo.

 

 

 

Without even being prompted to, BTC guy pulled off the hood he was wearing to reveal his face and confirm Chanyeol’s theory that he was really Kyungsoo.

 

Instead of being surprised, relieved or confused; Chanyeol instead felt himself being mildly annoyed to find out that BTC guy was actually Kyungsoo.

“How long have you been BTC guy!?” Chanyeol questioned, agitated.

“Since the beginning but I can explain,” Kyungsoo assured, “I got these powers when I was involved in a car accident as a teen but I can talk about that later.”

“B-but,” Chanyeol stammered, “You were such a pussy who cries all the time when the topic of fathers is brought up? Not to mention your severe daddy issues and you keep getting yourself hurt at work too. How can a hospital nurse like you be BTC guy?”

Kyungsoo inhaled, holding back tears as he turned his face away from Chanyeol, “Please don’t bring that up, Chanyeol, or you’ll make me cry. I’m just here to help you escape and not trying to compare dick lengths with you."

“Wait,” Chanyeol confronted, “So that means you know I’m Blazing Inferno. How long have you known about that?”

“Honestly, I didn’t even know about that until the day we came across each other after the dumpster fire behind the abandoned factory,” Kyungsoo revealed, “I really think we should go now, though. We can talk later.”

“Where can I go anyway? I’m a wanted criminal. There’s nowhere I can go where I wouldn’t be wanted for the crimes I’ve done,” Chanyeol realized, “Just let me be charged in court so I can serve my sentence and be done with it. I’m tired of all this, Kyungsoo.”

 

“Tired of being a superhero? But why? Isn’t this what you always wanted to be?” Kyungsoo’s voice dropped, sounding a bit disappointed.

“I’m not a superhero, Kyungsoo. You are. You’re the cool one who actually helps fix stuff and who people like,” Chanyeol sighed, looking dejected.

“-but daddy,” Kyungsoo whined, stomping his foot down like a child, looking like he was on verge of tears.

“I can’t be your daddy anymore, baby. I’m sorry. I’m not a superhero and I never was,” Chanyeol accepted, patting Kyungsoo on the arm, “Even if I go with you, I can’t run forever from my crimes. They’ll find me and catch me eventually. Let me just go through with this and be done with it. It’s not like I can turn back time and undo my mistakes anyway.”

“But I can, daddy,” Kyungsoo pointed out, “I can control the plane of time and space, remember?”

Chanyeol chuckled dryly, “I always wondered about that. BTC guy was said to have all these fancy powers to even travel through universes. Now that I know you’re BTC guy, why didn’t you ever use it to go a universe where everyone was alright and happy, instead of living in this corrupt world. Why didn’t you choose to go to one where your father was alive, so you could have told him what you wanted?”

 

Even in the midst of his tears that began to fell again, Kyungsoo confessed, “I have. I did try that and I have been to different universes where my father was still alive. I have told him what I wanted to, which is why I always told you that it’s fine and that you didn’t need to do anything about that for me because I already have- even in a different world.

“Well, I’m happy to hear that,” Chanyeol smiled a little.

Kyungsoo then continued, holding Chanyeol’s hand, “-but I always come back here because this is the one where I found my superhero and that person is you. After my father’s death, you were literally the only person to care so much for me. You were my hero. So, daddy, why don’t we find a universe to start all over?”

“Can we go to one where I at least didn’t drop out from college? I really regret that,” Chanyeol bargained.

“Of course, we can even go to one where you’re much cooler than me because seriously, you kinda suck as a superhero,” Kyungsoo smiled, crying happily for once.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> save it before I delete it
> 
> if you haven't realized it yet, this is actually a crack fic :D


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